Croatia Awaits Signal To Rise Against Nazis

Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 223, 20 September 1943, Page 5

Croatia Awaits Signal To Rise Against Nazis

FORMIDABLE YUGOSLAV THREAT DEVELOPING (British Official Wireless.) Received Sunday, 9.20 p.m. RUGBY, Sept. 18. Croatia is only awaiting the signal from a British officer serving with the Croat guerrillas to rise against the Germans, says Reuter’s correspondent. The Croatian Quisling newspaper Nova Hrvatska says the officer is “Major Jones.” The guerrilla army has been reorganised on the Russian model. It was 10 generals, five of whom were formerly Yugoslav staff officers, and there are 5000 other officers. The latest reports reaching London indicate that Yugoslav guerrillas have captured not only Split out Trogir 160 miles north of Bari. The Germans violently bombed the liberated towns and violent fighting is progressing near Klis, seven miles northeast of Split, between partisans and Germans trying to advance towards the coast. In East Bosnia partisans recaptured the mining town of Vlasenica. Italian troops doing garrison duty in the Balkans before the capitulation are now estimated at at least 200,000, and their sudden exit from the war created a void the Germans are finding hard to fill.

Commenting on the resultant situation, the Times says: “The effective military force of the Axis having been'

halved by the surrender, the Yugoslav patriot bands have been able to extend their control. They can now occupy railways and towns and reap a rich reward for their tyro years of heroism and endurance. “At one time there had been fierce antagonism and even conflict between their two sections, the one commanded by the more conservative Mikhailovich and the other by a Communist leader who won fame 4 under the name of Tito. Thanks to the intervention of Allied staff officers posted to their headquarters the efforts of the two leaders are now being more harmoniously coordinated. The disorganisation of the Italian divisions has given them ample supplies of arms and ammunition and the results are already evident.” General Mikhailovich's troops have captured the big Italian seaport of Fiume according to a reliable diplomatic source, says the British United Press Berne correspondent. The whole Dalmatian coast is said to be in Mikhailovich’s hands. Important decisions in Hungary are expected hourly, says the Budapest correspondent of the Swiss newspaper Gazette de Lausanne. Official. Hungarian circles say that despite the Japanese and German proclamations that Italy’s surrender has not affected the Tripartite alliance, the withdrawal of one partner from the Three-Power Alliance has released the others from their obligations. The Hungarians are demanding the immediate return of their troops from the Eastern Front, although the Germans require further reinforcements. Many members of the Peace Party are reported to have been arrested in Hungary.